Improvement in compound blow-pipes for enlarging blasting-cavities



PATENTED SEPT. 20, 1853.

A. STICKNEY.

'QOMPOUND BLOWPIPE FOR ENLARGING BLASTING UAVITIES.

UNITED STATES 'ATENT FFICE.

'ANCIL S'l ICKNEY, OF NORWICH, VERMONT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,040, dated September :20, I853; antcdaled June 11 1853.

To all whom) it may concern..-

-Be it known that I, AXCIL S'rxennnr, of;

Norwich, int-he county of Windsor and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Enlarging Blasting-Cavities in Books for the Reception of any Explosive Charge; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and rcp resented in the following.. specitication and the accompanying drawings, letters, figures,

and references thereof.

The com'nr n mode of making a blast-hole consists .in oring or drilling by a drill or other tool a hole in the rock to or about to the depth required for the charge, this being accomplished in the manner as usually practiced-that is to say, suppose A, Figure 1 of the drawings, denotes a rock. \Ve drill or make a hole, B, into it. Next, or secondly, we put into this hole some dilute nitric or chemical. acid or agent capable of decomposing or 'des'troying the rock, and fill the hole with it tof'such hei 'ht as may be deemed propen.

Next, suficrthisagcnt to act on the rock until it has ,so decomposed thatpartof it in immediate contact with it as to form a chamber, 0, or enlargement of the lower partof the hole. Then this chamber has been made large enough, remove the chemical agent and whatever elsethere may be within the chamber, and the chamber, after being dried, willbe ready to receive a charge of gunpowder. 13y such a process of making a hole in a rock a mnc greater quantity of powder can be used for a' blast and with grcater efl'cet than when the circle is made in the ordinary way-that is to say, as a drill-holc of equal size or breadth throughout its length. I have with great success employed another method of enlarging the drill hole at its lower part-that is to say, I have putchareoal .or some other proper combustible substance into the hole and set fire to it, and by means of a bellows or other suitable .contrivance caused a powerful blast of air or oxygen gas to pass downiuto the hole and impinge on the charcoal or its substitute in combustion. By the agency of the powerful heat thus created I have been able, in the course of a rery short time, to decompose the rock, and. enlarge the hole or producea chamber at its lower part sufficiently large to hold the charge. It is snrprisinghow soon the rock at the lower part of the hole can be'decomposed or burned away into the shape of a large chamber.

Instead of producing an intense flame or hcatby the mode described, I have resorted to another, which constitutes my invention, and

is as follows: Fig. 2 denotes a side View, and

(seen at an, 820., b b, -&c.,) those of one seriesbeing inclined or directed toward those of the other in such manner as to'cause any stream or streams of gas passing out of one set to come in contact with any stream or streams of gas which may be made to pass out of' the other set. v

The instrument so made may be provided with guide friction-rollers, as seen at c d d, for the purpose of directing it into the blasthole in the rock, and when it is placed in the said hole I force a stream of hydrogen gas down one of the pipes H I, and at the same time a stream of oxygen gas down the other ofthc said pipes, the said gases being by such means conveyed or forced into the two cham-,

bcrsF G and out of their orifices. On being tired or inflamed they will burn with an intense flame, so as to decompose that part of the rock against which the .tlame is made to impinge. By such means the lower part of the drill-holc may be'easily enlarged into :17 chamber. w

The instrument should be made of some material capable of withstanding the great heat' produced. For this purpose I employ platina meta], and I also make of the same that part of the blast-pipe which I introduce into the drill-holes when I create heat by means of charcoal or some other combustible material and blast of air, as hercin'before described.

By my improved process of or instrument for making a blast-hole in rock, I not only effect a great saving-of labor in enlarging the drill-hole, but.producegreatcr results from the explosion of a charge than are obtained by the ordinary process of blasting.

I lay no' claim'to the use of a blast. of air or gas in connection with coal 01- fuel, and for the purpose of supplying such with oxygen; but

W'hat I do claim is- -The1'nstrun1ent represented in Figs. 2 and 3 for enlarging the drill-hole by the employment of gases, as specified meaning to claim the combination of the two jet-chambers FG, the perforations-0r orifices a a, &e., bb, 8:0),

and supply-tubes H I, as arranged, SllbStfil1- tially in manner and for commingling the gases and disseminating flame therefrom entirely around and against the sides of the drill-hole,

whereby the enlargement of it into a suitable charge-chamber maybe speedily eiTeeted. I In testimony whereof Itave hereto set my Signature this 8th day of June, A. D. 1853. 

